A group of young local Chicago companies are giving fans the unique opportunity to be immortalized with their own character, storyline and interactive game figure in the Box-O-Zombies game that is scheduled to be released April of 2013 on Apple iOS-based mobile platforms.

EA’s Need for Speed ProStreet has been granted the GT Diamond Award, according to GameTrailers’ video tracking tool Stream Stats. Need for Speed ProStreet follows EA’s Crysis in garnering 10 million or more video views on GT, making EA the first publisher to receive two coveted GT Diamond Awards.

"We are proud to present EA with a GT Diamond Award for their incredible work on Need for Speed ProStreet," said Shane Satterfield, editor in chief, GameTrailers. "With quality titles like Crysis and Need for Speed ProStreet, it is no surprise that EA was the first publisher to have two titles that really resonated with our hardcore gaming audience."

"Receiving the GT Diamond Award is a real accomplishment," said Larry LaPierre, Vice President at Black Box, developer of Need for Speed. "GameTrailers visitors represent our core fan base and ten million views illustrates why Need for Speed is one of the world’s most successful video game franchises."

In Need for Speed ProStreet, gamers must prove they have the racing mettle to dominate the competition. Design and customize cars, face-off in iconic locations and battle in four distinct racing styles — grip, drag, drift and the all-new speed challenge. Danger and consequence have also been taken to another level with a new procedural damage system that will have cars scratching, denting and crumpling differently with every driving mistake. Need for Speed ProStreet is the realization of the intense rivalry, raw power, and visceral aggression that embodies street racing culture.

Need For Speed ProStreet joins a short list of distinguished games to have received the GT Diamond Award. Other honorees include Activision’s Call of Duty 4(R): Modern Warfare(TM), Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed(R), Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots(R) and Nintendo of America for Super Smash Bros.(R) Brawl.

The figures for the GameTrailers Diamond Award were compiled by Stream Stats, a proprietary tool that gives gaming industry professionals insight into which games the GT audience is interacting with the most in order to anticipate upcoming sales and analyze post release performance. To learn more, visit: http://stats.gametrailers.com.

Doodles on a bit of paper at the office or at the house have just found a new way of being cool with the 3D drawing board by Spoon Sisters. Yes, a three dimensions drawing board really does exist. The gadget in question is called 3D Drawing Pad and contains no less than fifty squared pages with special paper. Included in the bundle is a black pencil, which allows the creation of forms that seem to want to jump out of their original format.